The Return Of Sketch BooK Fridays (Hopefully)

July 10, 2009 at 6:45 pm (Pen And Inks, Sketchbook Fridays)

Sketch book Fridays has gone on hiatus (along with the Friday quotes over on Little Weaver’s Home of Insanity.  I will try to do better, I promise…) partially because busy and stress happened, and partially because I would forget it was Friday until 12 something at night, by which time, officially, it was Saturday.

So, I present for Sketch Book Friday:

Frankenheart!

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Just because a heart is battered and scarred doesn’t mean that it is broken.  Or that it isn’t still good.  Sometimes you have to piece it back together and give it a little jolt.  You may find it to be as good as new.  You may find it to be even better.  The capacity of a battered heart that has been lovingly stitched back together is monstrous in size, and, sadly, sometimes overlooked as it is sometimes timid afterwards.

I like the idea of a Frankenheart, but was kind of leery about doing it.  Any time anyone puts up a battered heart, people automatically assume that they are heart-broken, or sad.  I am neither.  In fact, I am feeling actually pretty darn good at the moment.

That said, I don’t really like the way this one came out.  For a sketch it is fine, and for a sketch I like it,  but I want it to be more.  I put red ink on a real band aid for the bled through effect, and it was much cooler before I stuck it on the heart.  And I think that I should actually collage pieces of different things to make the heart instead of just using inks.  And I think I should use a cloth band aid next time instead of the plastic ones that came in my car fist aid kit.  So the next one will be on some paper that I have that is very similar to fabric (the type slips my mind at the moment) and I am going to use old sheet music and pages from books along with the ink and maybe even write words under the background wash to make it more…I dunno.  Just more.

This one was done with Winsor and Newton inks, a band aid, and silver Basics acrylic paint for the bolts.

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More Pen And Inks From B’s House

July 10, 2009 at 6:32 pm (Book Art, Pen And Inks)

I finished up a few more pen and inks (some of which I finished before I left, some I finished here).  Enjoy!

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A tribute to the sphinx in MirrorMask, which was the inspiration for starting this book of pen and inks in the first place.

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This is just a detail of the little golem/troll critters that are holding up the bookcases because I like them..

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This is a picture of the newest piece that I call “Corn Mother”.  If you will note the big honkin’ shadow across the page, that is Sable, B and Spacie’s newest cat (and my self-appointed best friend for the trip) who decided she really needed to be in the sun right as I took the picture..

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And here she is sans kitty shadow.  B has this really nice gold ink that I used as the base.  I am thinking of perhaps doing this one bigger, with maybe gold leaf.  But, really, gold leaf is a big pain in the derriere so, then again, maybe not.

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New Pen And Inks In Color

July 6, 2009 at 6:15 am (Pen And Inks)

As promised, oh, about 30 minutes ago…  All of these were done with Winsor & Newton India inks of assorted colors (for the full list, see below in the Waiting post), and Speedball Artist Nibs (I used the little one that you can’t really change the nib on that is fine and pointed, but it is so old that I don’t know what it is called as I inherited this set from my dad, and the B-3 flat-nosed nib) as well as a small sumi brush for the washes, for those interested.

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And a detail because I really liked her face (and yes, this is the way she is supposed to go ;) )

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And the a few details of bat man (mwa ha).  I really like him but he didn’t come out whimsical at all, which was what I wanted to go for.  It just didn’t feel right with this one, though.

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Finally Finally. Some Pen and Ink Work

July 3, 2009 at 3:44 am (Book Art, Pen And Inks)

I have been preoccupied as of late with a pesky little thing called insomnia (yea, verily, it doth suck) which has seemed to completely suck not only my will to live (not literally) or do anything, but also the creativity right out of me.  It is HARD to come up with original thoughts when you are so tired that keeping up with a cartoon that you have seen a million times while rocking a nephew to sleep.

Enter MirrorMask.  A lovely movie that I rented from Netflix (anyone who has been to Little Weaver’s has already seen my review of if), that is wonderful.  I do have to make a correction, though.  Neil Gaiman wrote it, and it is laid out like a lot of his graphic novels, but Dave McKean directed it and was responsible for a good many of the visuals.  Click on his name to check out his art site (I will also be putting a link to both Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean on the Artist’s Corner page after I have had some sleep).

I love visually stimulating movies.  They make me want to create.  So, in the spirit of MirrorMask, I have started doing some pen and inks.  Here are the first three:

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And some details of number 2:

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And number 3 with details:

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I am going to be doing others as well, I am really enjoying working with pen and ink (partially because I am waiting for a tube of paint to come in, but mostly because my eye for color tends to go away when I am tired) and can’t wait to start in with the animal skeleton renderings.  I am going to try to do them more whimsical than scary or morbid.  I like the feel of these and want to keep it throughout the book.  For those interested, I am using black Pilot Precise Grip and Pilot G-2 pens of various otts.

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BatKat

April 7, 2009 at 4:23 am (Book Art, Pen And Inks)

I seem to be stuck on a pen and ink, quick sketch bordering on doodle (for me) sort of art.  I like it, but it is not nearly as detailed as what I usually do.  Or, to be more accurate, as optically illusioned detailed as I usually do (you can make stuff look super detailed when it is actually just a few quick brush strokes.  Good stuff.)

Here is the latest in the handmade book I am currently working in.  Enjoy BatKat.

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AAAAAnd, the detail.

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For those who are interested, the black was all done with the Bic Z4 0.7 tip.  To get the effects I brushed water onto the ink (using ink that isn’t water proof can be a wonderful thing), and I used a Pentel metallic for the eyes.  Red ink and green ink were also used.

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